As if wine-drinking weren't burdened with enough confusion already, the warm weather brings with it an additional laundry list of half-remembered rules and misunderstood styles. Rosés and Beaujolais are like mindless summer flings, right? And chilling red wine, even when it's hot as hell, is for newbs, isn't it? And what about the old white-with-fish rule—must it dictate my cookout steez all season long?!

Forget what you know: Too many of these accepted notions, it turns out, are based on oversimplifications, or just flat-out false information. To arm ourselves for smarter drinking this year, we reached out to Laura Maniec—one of the country's most respected sommeliers—for help. Here, she debunk some common myths and shows us the way toward enlightened summer wine swilling.

The Expert

After working as a wine and spirits director for 20 restaurants across the country, Maniec returned to her hometown of New York City to open Corkbuzz—equal parts wine bar, school, and events venue—to help people discover and learn about wines and to give them a place to enjoy them afterward. Outside of teaching classes that span the history of Italian wines to pairing wines with take-out foods, Maniec hosts private events, Sunday suppers, and serves 35 wines by the glass at the bar (with food that far exceeds that of a standard wine bar). But all classes aside, Maniec champions the idea that personal taste trumps all rules: "You like what you like."